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4 Different Ways to Help You Overcome the Weight Loss Plateau

You know what happens. You are exercising everyday and diligently watching what you eat, but the scale refuses to move in the right direction. You have hit the dreaded weight loss plateau. This can set back the most avid health conscious person, but do not worry as long as you are prepared for this situation, you can overcome it. Here are a few techniques that may help you stay on track and keep motivated.

Mix up your caloric intake. Usually you try to consume fewer calories to lose weight, but sometimes it may be best to mix things up a bit. You could have 1200 calories one day then go up to 1600 calories the next day and drop back down to 1400. The theory is to make your metabolism have to guess at how much you will consume. There is no certain amount that works for everyone, so you will have to experiment to see what works best for you. A lot of people who experience a plateau may not be consuming enough calories. If you consume extra calories for a few days and then lower them it will help your body to react and move past the plateau.

Rotate your fitness routine. Doing the same routines each day will make them become less strenuous and, therefore, less effective. Your body becomes use to your routine, so you will have to spice it up to overcome a weight loss plateau. You can add weights to your cardio or simply switch your walk for a bike ride. It does not matter what you do as long as your body is trying something different.

Try to make time for extra sleep. Your weight loss plateau may be caused by training too hard. An over worked body holds on to food as if it were starving. Your body can recover from exercising more quickly as you sleep, and lack of recovery time is a known cause for plateauing. You should never skip sleep to fit in extra workouts. You would be doing your body more harm than good this way.

Make time to relax. Next to diet and exercise, stress is the biggest cause of weight loss plateaus. When you are stressed your body sends out more cortisol, a hormone that encourages your body to retain fat. We need to learn ways to reduce the stress in our high strung society. It may be as simple as finding some alone time or taking some extra time to stretch. You just need to find that certain thing that helps you relax and put it into your schedule more often.